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Chicago's green revolution starts at the top

CHICAGO – This city has worn many monikers throughout the years – Chi Town, the Windy City, Second City.

But the one it has worked hardest to earn might be the Emerald City. Turns out that the lakeside city built – at least anecdotally – on mob connections and industry has been busily greening up its act.

While the city has lagged behind other progressive cities in such eco-basics as household recycling (it only created an effective program in 2007), for the eco-minded tourist, Chicago is veritably verdant.

This green revolution is coming from the top down, led by the city's well-loved Mayor Richard Daley, whose love of trees (he was, after all, born on Arbor Day, 1942) spawned a plan to revitalize the city economically by regenerating it environmentally. This greening of the city has clearly worked, rooted in a $9-billion-a-year tourism industry and branching into many other eco-initiatives.

Sure you can fly there, though it's greener to drive.

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An eight-hour drive will land you smack in the city's core at the Fairmont Hotel, a noted leader in eco-hospitality (find more eco-lodging at www.istaygreen.org) with views of Lake Michigan and a short walk to the city's Magnificent Mile along Michigan Ave.

From the 19th-floor window of the Fairmont, the tourist sees not the tar or asphalt roofs we're accustomed to, but gardens of green.

Starting with City Hall, the mayor has transformed Chicago's rooftops into something of sustainable beauty.

Chicago has more than 186,000 square metres of these sky-high gardens, more than all other U.S. cities combined. Along with their aesthetic benefits, green roofs make buildings several degrees cooler in summer and act as insulation in winter. While travellers can't access City Hall's roof, they can take a gander from the Department of Environment, at nearby 30 N. Lasalle St.

But the largest green roof, perhaps in the world, belongs to the city's Millennium Park, a controversial project that ultimately resulted in 10 hectares of shrubs, trees, groundcover, perennials and more that blanket an underground garage and the old Illinois Central Track. Today, the park attracts close to 4 million visitors annually.

Indeed, Chicago offers a network of parks and wetlands that transport the urban traveller into a green oasis. Within Millenium Park is the 1-hectare Lurie Garden, which features more than 200 varieties of plants, most native to North America.

Jackson Park, close to the Museum of Science and Technology, boasts Osaka Garden with its Buddhist-inspired gardens and the Wooded Island, a stopover for many migratory birds.

Even along the city's premier shopping strip – Michigan Ave. – it's impossible to miss the meandering rivers that wind through the city centre.

You're never far from a whiff of nature here. And you can rent a kayak or canoe to travel the inner-city waterways, rent a bike to navigate the streets, or just rely on your feet or mass transportation (subways and buses) to get around.

Navy Pier, a Chicago landmark that juts out into Lake Michigan, is, perhaps, more ego than eco. But it's worth a visit in part because you won't want to miss Shedd Aquarium, noted for its dedication to conservation, preservation and undervalued marine species.

The largest indoor aquarium in the world, Shedd Aquarium was the first cultural institution in Chicago with a soy-based roof.

Made from the equivalent of 14.5 hectares of soybeans, the roof keeps the building's heating/cooling in check. And indoors, the aquarium has some truly innovative programs, including its Right Bite Dinners, which offer up sustainable seafood and guest speakers to let us know why we have to fish carefully for what's on our plates.

Speaking of food, Chicago is on its way to becoming a leader in urban organic farming – led by Daley's Chicago Organic Plan which aims to get local organic food into the hands of Chicagoans.

One place to visit is City Farm, located between Cabrini Green and the Gold Coast.

The farm is bursting with local produce, providing plenty for the city's best chefs, but offering up a stand where visitors can pick up any one of the farm's 30 varieties of tomatoes, among other prize-winning offerings. There are also dozens of farmers' markets throughout the city.

While Chicago may lack the certifiable "greenness" of such cities as San Francisco or Seattle, it's well on its way to getting considerable eco-cred for its progressive steps.

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